Ladies and Gentlemen…Leonard Cohen! Still your man

Par P.A. Sévigny
le 1 octobre 2009

He may have written Death of a Lady’s Man but Leonard Cohen is not, repeat, not dead. As of last week, he’s 75 years old and pulling in a pension but the man’s alive, the man is well and as far as we know, he still knows how to make the ladies sweat.Edmonton’s Allison Akgongor’s Longing for Leonard knows what she’s talking about when she writes Leonard’s sounds entice usHis words carry us away…and last Monday, that’s what happened when over 24 Montreal poets met to read some of their poems as a present to celebrate Cohen’s 75th birthday. Organized as a benefit for the Montreal’s Foundation for Public Poetry, the reading included work published in Jack Locke’s Leonard Cohen-You’re our man. Locke’s book is a collection of poetry in which 75 different poets reflect how they were affected by Cohen’s work and what it means for them and their writing. Locke’s choice of poems reflects the reality of modern media as everybody gets their chance claim their share of Cohen’s work and his music. Suzanne isn’t just a song. She’s a post-modern substitute for Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria and everybody knows what Cohen is talking about when he sings about the jazz police. Last winter, three different covers of Cohen’s Halleluiah made it to the top 10 list in England but when K.D. Laing sings her version, there’s not a dry eye at the bar, especially if it’s ladies night in Montreal’s Village. Montréal’s Jeffrey Mackie nails it in his Response to Cohen inspired by Cohen’s All There Is To Know About Adolph Eichmann.It’s true, if you saw him on the busYou would assumeHe was just another commuterEverything about him was average.And Montreal’s Grace Moore gets it right in her The Serious Governance Of Canada; inspired by Cohen’s The Only Tourist In Havana Turns His Thoughts Homeward.Which of our partiesWill make an ententeTo fill in the vacuumOf a leaderless state.Montreal poets David Solway gets it just as much as does Jessica Mailas who seems to know a thing or two about what happens in a bar when it’s late and it’s time to go home.i did not call your nameas we crossed, back to backin the midnight swell of revelersi found it unbecomingand strangeOther women had far more definite ideas about what they could and would do for the poet if they ever got their chance to meet and properly greet him. In Snow Is Falling Somewhere Montreal’s J.R. Carpenter writesWhen I was fifteen I fell in love withAnd secretly wanted to be the nude girlIn Leonard Cohen’s poem, Snow is Falling.Inspirée par ce que Cohen écrit dans I Will Be Your Ghetto Jew, Nelly Roffe récita un poème qu’elle avait écrit immédiatement après avoir traduit celui de Cohen. Sa réponse franchement érotique fut d’une telle qualité que ce poème mérite bien sa place comme une franche réponse à celui de Cohen. En effet, ce juif perdu dans son propre petit ghetto pourrait bien apprécier faire la connaissance de son paire après avoir lu ce que Roffe lui offre ayant entendu ce cri d’amour désespéré.Montreal’s Erica White was more succinct when she wroteI have loved so many menWho loved women whoWere in love with youAnd so they never feltLike they had really beenLoved properly.Locke’s book is an honest contribution to the city’s poetry and the city’s various poets. However, poetry is not therapy and once published, belongs to all who read it.Today I’m seeingA lot of peopleWho look like peoplewhom I know.

Waiting at the train stationAnd you don’t showHave I forgotten your faceOr is your train really late?Katherine Beeman’s enigmatic Lineup has something to say about Cohen’s work which every reader understands as the fundamental truth which affects all of our lives.